Hey there! Thanks for dropping by my blog! Take a look around and grab the RSS feed to stay updated. See you around!

Posts tagged with "weight"

Screening the Sloppy

The FIA caused some unexpected action yesterday. It pointed out that several teams, particularly Ferrari, Mercedes and Force India, were in some error concerning their overalls and they were going to enforce the regulations as of this race.

 

It is the first and probably last time anyone outside motorsport paddocks cared about the contents of Appendix III of the FIA Standard 8856-2000. Specifically, the label confirming the suit complies with this high safety standard "must be embroidered onto the outermost layer of the outer garment". Ironically, using a different method to indicate compliance means that the FIA no longer considers those overalls compliant due to not indicating their status correctly.

 

By not using thread, some were saving a little weight. Ferrari, Mercedes and Force India's drivers all went to scrutineering in Germany with overalls not in compliance with the regulations in this respect. It is unclear how many teams would not have been in compliance had overalls intended for Saturday and Sunday been checked as well (drivers often use a different overall each day for freshness and weight reasons).

 

It may seem a nit-picky regulation, but it ensures the compliance sign is clear throughout the life of the overall. Thread is harder-wearing than even the best screen-printing, even though in the case of a F1 overall the wear difference is not really tested. The surprise is that it took so long for the overall manufacturers to come into compliance and for the FIA to notice there was a problem. I find it hard to believe that this is the first time all year someone has turned up with a screen-printed compliance logo. Maybe it just proves different scrutineers focus on different potential problems.

Read More & Comment

(Rough) List for This Week's Entries

I have a busy time before I head down to Silverstone. While I will have a Kangaroo TV and a PDA and can therefore do some entries (including my fuel stints and times entry on Saturday evening), I will not be able to spend infinite time. This is because my PDA has a) a distinctly limited battery life and b) accessing the internet with it will cost me between 50p and £1 each time I add an entry. Pay-as-you-go works fine for me most of the time, but this is one of the occasions where it's another obstacle to make blogging on location more interesting.

Please may any readers seeing questions from commenters during the Silverstone weekend attempt to answer them themselves? Even if you are not sure whether your answer is correct, it is bound to be better than the very late response it will get if you wait for me to reply.

Between preparations I need to make before I go and things I need to blog when I get there, here is a list of what I expect to be blogging this week and approximately when they will appear here. They are ordered according to estimated day of arrival:

ETA Sunday

GP2 Primer for Silverstone Spectators

ETA Monday

Formula BMW Primer for Silverstone Spectators
Engine Status (Britain)

ETA Tuesday

Porsche Supercup Primer for Silverstone Spectators
Gearbox Status (Britain)


ETA Wednesday

Silverstone Historic Sports Cars Primer
Check Status (Britain)


ETA Thursday

The Silverstone Adventure (Arrival)

Note - I will not be able to filter spam or respond to comments due to limited battery power. It may be possible for me to do a short blog entry prior to leaving home on Thursday, but don't count on it. There will definitely be a blog entry from the campsite, but that won't come until late in the evening.

ETA Friday

The Silverstone Adventure (Friday)

Note - I will be blogging from the campsite, so expect the entry to be late.

ETA Saturday

The Silverstone Adventure (Saturday)
Fuel Stints, Weights & Times (Britain)

Note - My Fuel Fing works on my mobile, so I should be able to give you the same information as I would normally. However, I will once again be blogging from the campsite, so it will be late on Saturday. Even more so since Hamilton Fields (where I'm staying) is having a hog roast...

ETA Sunday

The Silverstone Adventure (Sunday)

Note - I will probably need to do the blogging on this day from the car while being driven back home. I may be very tired and make errors as a result.

ETA Monday

Miscellaneous Information From Silverstone

Note - I may be rather tired out and therefore may make more errors than usual. Please bear with me. On the other hand, if I'm feeling energetic enough, I may do some comments.

ETA Tuesday

Aftermath of the Silverstone Adventure
FIA Releases Entry List For 2010, Take 2

Note - I should be back to normal by this point. I will be able to filter spam and respond to comments again.

This is subject to change, but this is one of those weeks where I will be doing a relatively predictable output.

Special Note for People Following Me Elsewhere

Due to my presence at Silverstone, my ability to participate in other parts of the internet will be compromised.

From Thursday to Monday inclusive, I will be unable to guarantee any participation in the fora or blogs I participate in. The lacanta Twitter account will also be silent because Twitter doesn't seem to understand how to link my mobile number to its service.

Formula1home.com's administration will be temporarily be done by neil with contributions from Snuff.

Arrangements will be made for the temporary administration of Force Fans Online.

I will update Force Fans Online and the Fisichella Forum with the information I'd normally give them for practise sessions, but due to having a completely different viewpoint of the event, combined with different information sources, there are likely to be gaps in some places where they would not normally be.

I will not attempt to update F1 Fanatic or Sidepodcast's live commentaries. My contributions to those commentaries tends to be of a more time-bound nature and live commenting from the track isn't an option. Instead, I will add my views in the relevant entries upon return.
Read More & Comment